Farina warns Sydney FC after Jets victory

Angela Habashy

A furious Frank Farina warned his players to either shape up or ship out after Sydney FC suffered a 2-1 loss to Newcastle on Saturday night to remain anchored to the bottom of the A-League ladder.

With the Jets plummeting down the ladder after five winless rounds and Sydney propping it up on only 10 points, both teams were desperate to revive their season at Hunter Stadium.

But while the Jets moved up one place to reclaim a top-six place, the Sky Blues remain last after slumping to their eighth loss this season.

Craig Goodwin and Emile Heskey put the hosts in front with Yairo Yau getting one back for Sydney - all in the first half.

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When the two sides met in their much-hyped round-two encounter, the Jets produced a thrilling 3-2 win in an entertaining clash in which both marquee men Heskey and Sydney star Alessandro Del Piero scored.

But while Heskey was a present force in Saturday's match, Del Piero barely featured.

"When you have to rely on a 38-year-old player who's just come back from a hamstring injury it's a bit of a worry," Farina said.

"We got what we deserved today and we didn't deserve to win."

Despite an ill Brett Emerton getting subbed off after 30 minutes and missing injured pair Pascal Bosschaart and Jason Culina, Farina was making no excuses saying the side should have the depth to cope.

"There will be a lot of nervous players after that," he said.

"They won't like me when I get angry.

"I'm a fighter and I'll go down swinging in terms of the fight to make it off the bottom and I expect the players that will be with me will have that same attitude.

"If they don't, they won't play."

The Sky Blues face two tough matches in the next nine days going up against frontrunners the Central Coast on Thursday and Adelaide on New Year's Eve.

A win against the Mariners will bring them just a point away from the top six.

"We're running out of games," Farina said.

"So it would be nice to make them a turning point."

Gary van Egmond by contrast was full of praise for his charges saying it was just the result they needed to get their season back on track.

The two goals on Saturday were the Jets' first since round eight.

"Tonight I thought we had two full-backs who had real intent getting past people, we had midfielders who really wanted to work, we had wide players who wanted to take people on, and strikers who wanted to win their duels and score," van Egmond said.